Posts Tagged ‘Kickstarter’

It might sound like the name of that forgotten Godspeed You Black Emperor track you could have sworn they played when you saw them in The Unkempt Spoon that one time, but Where They Cremate The Roadkill is actually the next game from the creator of Middens and Gingiva. If you haven’t played either of those, I stand by the words that fell out of my mouth when I gawped at Middens for the first time – “It’s like Harlan Ellison driving a Yellow Submarine into a dying sun.” Packed with weird and esoteric elements, from Enochian sigils to parasitic parole officers, the new game is an RPG set in a world in which actions have consequences, and the devil has lost his day job.

Shadowrun is returning. Again! I’ve already covered the basics of Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Harebrained Schemes’ next step into the world of fantastical cyberpunk, but the Kickstarter has just gone live so there are plenty of details to wrap that bundle of wires you call a brain around. The video below contains the first glimpse of the game’s isometric interpretation of the setting, unless you count the concept art above, in which case it’s your second glimpse. After the great success of Dragonfall, I’m eager to take another trip into this particular vision of our electronic future.

In case you weren’t paying attention, the world went a tad silly late last year when film studio Sony Pictures were hacked, allegedly by North Korea, in response to the impending release of the Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy The Interview. Now MoneyHorse, creators of side-scrolling Conta-esque platforming shooter Glorious Leader – which also stars North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – are saying that they’ve had to cancel their ongoing Kickstarter project in part because of a hack “inspired by the attack on Sony.”

A childhood spent playing IK+ and an adulthood spent playing Nidhogg and games like it means that the overlapping circles in the Judo venn diagram is labelled “Graham”. That’s Judo not as in the modern martial art, but as the four-player indie fighting game on Steam Greenlight.

I enjoy looking at things in Elite: Dangerous but, the occasional dogfight and docking sequence aside, I’ve not particularly enjoyed doing things. Space sure is spectacular at times but I don’t feel any particular attachment to my ship or the places in which I spend my time pew-pewing and pondering the meaning of life, the universe and everything. There’s an awful lot to see but none of it feels particularly lived in.

Enter Sol Trader, a top-down space game described as a fusion of “Elite, Asteroids & Dwarf Fortress”. Do you crave convincing characters in a world that has two centuries of procedurally generated history? I do. Time to start kicking.

Shadowrun Returns is returning to Kickstarter. Later this month, developers Hare-Brained Schemes will launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise dosh for their proposed Hong Kong setting. The artwork above is the only detail released so far. but the inclusion of neon lighting, streetfood, rain and a brolly is enough to convince me that this is Legit Cyberpunk. My interest in Shadowrun has peaked, following a Turkeymas break spent in the company of the excellent Dragonfall expansion, which is an absolutely smashing RPG campaign, packed with interesting characters, choices and missions. More of that, please.

The space game genre seemed to vanish around ten years ago. It returned in 2013, flourished last year, and is now reaching the point where it’s hard to continue describing “space” as a genre. Just like “forest” isn’t a genre, space is a setting, and one in which all kinds of games are now being made. Today’s take on inky blackness: Into The Stars, a Kickstarter project from former DICE and Capcom developers that aims to mix Oregon Trail and FTL to form a first-person space captain game.

Gunmancy. Froggoths. Pop-culture cheekiness. Sentient snot. Yes, my friends, Cosmic Star Heroine is already looking like a star. If you’re wondering what I’m blathering about, Zeboyd Games recently released half an hour’s worth of gameplay footage, all from the alpha version of the upcoming turn-based RPG, which draws inspiration from the likes of Chrono Trigger.

It’s the day for gaming comebacks! Just so long as they’re gaming comebacks in which it’s difficult to ascertain whether anyone meaningfully involved in the original thing is on board. Interplay’s latest attempt to re-enter our affections isn’t quite as suspicion-clouded as West Games’ second dodgy-lookin’ gesture towards a spiritual STALKER sequel, but it’s fair to say that whoever wears the Interplay skinsuit are not Interplay’s original founders. They have, however, managed to recruit Chris Taylor, one of the Fallout’s designers, and it’s he who’s made an “officially-licensed” boardgame adaptation of Interplay’s space combat sim Freespace. Wot no Clayfighter 4?Read the rest of this entry »

Broken Age was trapped between two posts: its need to satisfy the nostalgia of the people who funded it via Kickstarter, and its desire to be accessible and reach a modern audience. The former group seemed displeased with the results, which is maybe what’s pushed Thimbleweed Park beyond its own $375,000 Kickstarter goal in just a week. It’s from the creators of Maniac Mansion, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, and they’re creating a point and click adventure that feels like “opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.”

How pleasing that a game about time travel should have such a perfect sense of timing. Kelvin and the Infamous Machine is a point and click adventure in which an inept research assistant must skip through time, inspiring great inventors and artists to fulfil their historical roles. It arrives on Kickstarter shortly after we cast our eyes overThimbleweed Park, the Lucasarts throwback from the minds of Maniac Mansion creators Ron Gilbert and Garry Winnick. Time travel? Pointing and clicking? Where are the tentacles? Seek them in the demo and trailer below.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the crowdfunding waters – the Old Men Of Videogames are back, and they want your cash so they can pick up where they left off. Again. This time it’s Ron Gilbert & Garry Winnick, creators of Lucasarts point’n’click grandparent Maniac Mansion (not to mention a little game called Monkey Island), and they’re after $375k to make a spiritual sequel named Thimbleweed Park.Read the rest of this entry »